Braves' opponent: Washington Nationals
Keep an eye on: Max Scherzer. The Braves will face him for the first time all season on Thursday – having missed him in their previous three series against the Nationals – and it'll be a tall order. Scherzer has given up two or fewer runs in 12 of his 15 starts with the Nationals. He's pitched seven innings or more in 12 of his 15 starts, eight innings or more in five of them, and nine innings twice, including his no-hitter against the Pirates on June 20, when all that stood behind him and a perfect game was a hit batsman with one strike left to get. Opposing batters are hitting just 0.79 against Scherzer for the season. Only twice all season has he given up more than six hits in a game.
Who's hot: Michael Taylor is on a nine-game hitting streak, while batting .389 (14-for-36) with five doubles, four RBIs and seven runs scored.
Who's not: Danny Espinosa is 2-for-20 (.100) with six strikeouts in his past six games, though he's hit .433 (13-for-30) with two doubles and two home runs against the Braves this season.
Braves connection: Former Brave Reed Johnson is out at least until September after having surgery to repair a torn tendon in his foot. Johnson suffered the injury on April 28 during the Nationals' 13-12 comeback win over the Braves. He doubled in Dan Uggla in the seventh inning and felt a pop in his foot. Speaking of Uggla, he has just 17 at-bats for the Nationals in the month of June, including one fruitless trip to the plate during last week's three-game series against the Braves.
In the news: The Braves noticed Anthony Rendon wasn't running at 100 percent during their series with the Nationals in Washington last week and must not have been too surprised to see that he went on the disabled list Friday with a sore right quadriceps muscle he had tried to play through. Rendon already missed the first 52 games of the season with injuries to his left knee and his left oblique.
